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EMEA officially welcome 2 new teams: KOI and Team Heretics
The off-season excitement continues to rise as the official LEC twitter account announced the joining of two new teams. KOI and Team Heretics join the League of Legends EMEA Championship!
WELCOME KOI AND TEAM HERETICS!
Misfits and Rogue are officially gone from the LEC, with two new organizations replacing them. KOI and Team Heretics were two organizations previously present in SuperLiga: Spain's official League of Legends esports broadcast. The last time a new organization joined the LEC was in Spring 2022 with the induction of Team BDS, and in Spring 2021 with Astralis.
Rogue and KOI have combined together to join forces, while Team Heretics purchased Misfits Gaming spot in the LEC. KOI purchased over the majority of shares Rogue has in their company, hence the rebrand. Team Heretics has gone the more traditional route and simply purchased Misfits Gaming's team-slot in the LEC.
[twitter url="https://twitter.com/LEC/status/1600143021810614272"]
KOI is a very new organization, founded on December 15 2021 - almost a one year anniversary to the date! One of the world's biggest streamers, Ibai "Ibai" Llanos Garatea, founded KOI off the success of his Twitch stream, as well as tenure in the LVP (Liga de Videojuegos Profesional) as a shout-caster.
[twitter url="https://twitter.com/LEC/status/1600173225924870144"]
While KOI lacks some experience on the stage, Team Heretics has some accolades to show as an organization. While technically formed in August 2016, Team Heretics entered the League of Legends scene in January 2017. Just recently, the organization took first place in the LVP SL 2022 Summer Playoffs, as well as first in the European Masters (EM) 2022 Summer Main Event.
Team Heretics is looking to stay on fire in the EMEA, with the reported signing of Marcin "Jankos" Jankowski ahead of the 2023 season. The addition of two new teams into the EMEA is sure to be exciting, especially with massive organizations like the Ibai led KOI.